Have You Seen This? Cuban legend wins Olympic-record 5th gold, retires from sport

ATOP THE PODIUM — Move over, Michael Phelps; Cuban legend Mijain Lopez has a strong claim for greatest Olympian of all time.

The 41-year-old wrestler defeated Chile's Acosta Fernandez 6-0 in the 130-kilogram finals Tuesday to win his fifth consecutive gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Following his match, Lopez placed his shoes in the center of the mat, a longstanding symbol of retirement in the sport.

And what a way to go out.

Nicknamed "El Terrible," per the Wall Street Journal, Lopez became the first male wrestler in Olympic history to win four gold medals at the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo, blowing out the field without allowing a single point against him in four matches.

Phelps' 23 gold medal medals is more than twice as many as anyone else, and the American swimming superstar certainly has a claim for greatest of all time.

But Lopez began his Olympic career in Athens in 2004, a few months after a gold-medal victory of Team USA's Rulon Gardner at the Pan American Games. He placed fifth overall in Athens before winning his first Olympic gold in Beijing as his country's flag bearer.

Twenty years later, and after being semi-retired for about three years, he did something never before done. And he did it all while representing the Caribbean island nation often characterized for its polarizing politics instead of high-level athletes.

"To me, any athlete in Cuba who isn't patriotic is not a real athlete," Lopez told NBC News before the Paris games. "Everything we do, we do it for all the provinces in Cuba. Anywhere our fans are, it's always a plus.

"It's an honor to be in a competition knowing that watching you on television are 11 million people.cheering you on and wishing for your success."

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